Brothers in Misery
by Vesvius
Summary: Naruto. Sasuke. Gaara. Kazan. Haku. Five boys, all with troubled pasts. But as they bond together, they find friendship that few others have. NaruTema, SasuHina, GaaIno, OCSaku, HakuKin
1. A Day at the Academy

A/N: I deleted this story a while ago due to lack of response, but I've suddenly got an urge to repost it. Keep in mind that this ignores later facts from the Manga, like Naruto's affinity for wind. I hope I get a better response this time. Some parts are rewritten, some are the same, and I keep my OC! I figure that every author lays at least one egg in his stories. This is mine.

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An average day in the Academy of Konoha was going on. Sasuke was happy today, extremely happy. His father had finally said that he was a man in the Uchiha clan, and all he had had to do was perfect his **_Goukakyuu no Jutsu_ **(Powerful flame technique). Ignoring everything Iruka-sensei was saying (he knew it all), Sasuke looked around the classroom at his fellow cadets. After all, today's classmates could be tomorrow's enemies.

There was Sakura, staring at him as always. Next to her, was Ino, with the exact same drooling look as Sakura, also staring at him. Down there was the dog-boy, with his little fleabag. Weren't pets not allowed in the Academy? Then there was Shino, conversing with a bug. Hinata was down there too, sitting next to dog boy. She was the only girl in class who didn't stare it him while drooling. She was also the closest thing he had to a friend in class. Shikamaru was sitting in the back of the room, sleeping as usual. And next to him was Chouji, sneaking chips under the desk.

Up in the front of the class was Naruto, who had his head down. The dobe was exhausted, as he should be. Last night, he had painted a big moustache on the second hokage's face on the mountain. Then, he had been caught by Iruka-sensei. After he cleaned the paint off, it had been well after midnight. But instead of sleeping like a normal person, he had gone home to practice Henge no Jutsu. Now, he was doseing.

Sasuke's musing about his classmates was disturbed by Iruka-sensei saying "Ok, now we're going outside for practice!" An excited murmur came out of the class. Practical days were limited, and very rare, and were always eventful. They all lined up and filed outside as Iruka-Sensei paired them up into sparring partners. Ino and Sakura were paired together, which was no surprise. They always enjoyed kicking the crap out of each other. Sasuke, much to his displeasure was partnered up with Naruto. The dobe then had the audacity to go up to him, stick his hand out and say "Let's have a good match!" Sasuke turned around and walked away, going to their sparring section. Behind him, he heard the blonde mutter "teme" before following him.

They squared off, and prepared to fight. Iruka blew his whistle, and they were off. Sasuke charged the dobe. 'I'll put him down fast!' he thought. He was stunned when Naruto dodged his punch and retaliated with a kick aimed at his gut. Sasuke dodged then, and flipped backwards to his original position. In his mind, he was thinking 'Maybe I should take this more seriously.'

This time, Naruto initiated their combat, as he closed in at rapid speeds. He fired off a few quick punches, which Sasuke blocked and countered. In return, Naruto countered Sasuke's hits. This chain continued, until they both jumped back from the other. Sasuke looked around, and saw that most of the other sparring matches had concluded. Most people were watching him and Naruto with open mouths. Sasuke decided to take this up to the next level. He reached into his pouch, and sent a few shurikens at Naruto. But Naruto, with coordination and finesse he had never shown before, deflected them all with his Kunai.

'Time to wrap this up' the Uchiha thought. He began making hand seals. Boar, Horse, Tiger. He brought his Chakra up out of his lungs, and exhaled it as fire. "**_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!_ **(Fire Style: Powerful flame technique)" he yelled as the fire rushed Naruto.

Naruto watched the incoming fireball with a small amount of panic. But then he remembered the move he had been practicing for just this occasion. His hands made the seal of the ram almost without thinking, to focus his Chakra, which he then sent down into the ground. Time for hand seals. Ram, Bird, Dog. His hands came out of the seal, and he made a pushing motion as he kicked the ground with his Chakra-enforced leg. A huge ball of rock flew up, then went rolling toward the fire. "**_Doton: Maruishi Meiun no Jutsu!_ **(Earth Style: Boulder doom technique)" was his cry as the rock met the fire.

All of the cadets, and the instructors, were watching the fight with open mouths. Sakura and Ino were stunned that someone could match their Sasuke-kun in power, while Iruka had had no idea that Naruto had mastered a Jutsu, even a low level one like Maruishi Meiun. Both Sasuke and Naruto were forcing their techniques together with their Chakra, which they had a near equal amount. Both of them ran out at the same moment, and both of them collapsed. All of the class looked on, then in awe, turned their gaze to the place the two techniques had met. A huge pillar of obsidian rock stood there, the union of the two jutsus. Iruka was the first to come to his senses. "Ummm, Draw!" he proclaimed.

About twenty minutes later, Naruto and Sasuke awoke in the school infirmary. The nurse jumped back: apparently, she had been in the process of checking their temperatures. She looked around, and shook her head at the other nurse, who spoke into the phone "Um, apparently we won't be needing the ambulance after all. Never mind." She hung up.

The first nurse looked at the two boys, both of whom had sat up and were blinking confusedly. "You two had chakra depletion. You shouldn't be able to move anytime soon, so just lie back down and we'll have you sent home as soon as possible." Her jaw dropped as both cadets got up easily, and Naruto began doing some pushups and Sasuke stretched. "Um, never mind. You can go back to class now." Without a word, the two boys spun on their heels and walked out the door.

As they were striding down the hallways, surprisingly, Sasuke spoke. "Uchiha Sasuke," he introduced himself. "Fire jutsu expert." Naruto nodded, then responded with "Uzumaki Naruto. Earth jutsu specialist." They both nodded, and continued back to class. They probably would have said something else, but they had arrived at the classroom door. They pushed it open, and walked in at the same time.

Iruka-sensei looked around, ready to yell at the people who had interrupted his lesson, but once again, his mouth hung open when he saw who it was. Naruto looked past him, at the blackboard. It read "The Dangers of Chakra Depletion." He elbowed Sasuke, drawing an offended gasp from the fan girl section, and pointed at the board. Sasuke read under the headline, and saw that on the list it said that after depletion they should not be able to move for hours. Both of them chuckled a little, bringing a gasp from the class, who had never seen the Uchiha show any happy feeling at all.

They looked around the class, looking for empty seats. There was only one. Apparently, Akamaru had decided to use Naruto's seat as a toilet, and no one had bothered to clean it up. Sasuke headed back to his seat at the back of the room, then noticed Naruto's predicament. Sasuke looked over at the person sitting next to him, one of his usual fan girls. "Move." He said. The girl swooned at hearing her crush talk to her, and floated over to clean up the mess on Naruto's seat so she could sit there. Sasuke jerked his head at the now vacant seat next to him, which Naruto took with pleasure.

Iruka snapped back to his senses again, and continued his lecture on what Chakra Depletion was, and how dangerous it was. As he droned on, all of the class kept shooting glimpses at the two boys who were sitting in the back of the room. As Iruka was the only instructor in the room, and he had his back turned, the two began talking in a code that they had picked up in the library on a study day. None of the rest of the class had remembered it, and Iruka wasn't paying much attention to them.

"_I'm bored out of my mind over here" _Naruto signed. Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"_How long did it take you to get the _Maruishi Meiun _down?" _Sasuke asked in code.

"_Few Days._" Naruto responded. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. It had taken him a week to master the Goukakyuu, and Naruto had mastered an equally powerful technique in two days! Naruto smirked slightly. He was proud that he had mastered the technique in a couple days, even though he hadn't done much else then.

Iruka broke them out of their silent conversation with a call to the class. "Well, today's exercise is partner projects. Everyone find a partner, then head outside. The two of you must work out a combination using both of your unique strengths to show us at the end of the day. You have half an hour. Begin!"

As usual, everyone clambered to be Sasuke's partner, figuring that they would either get to be close to their crush (the girls) or work with a genius who could get them to pass this project (boys). Usually Sasuke just picked someone at random, but this time he had someone in mind. He held out his fist to Naruto. Naruto stared at it for a minute with wide eyes. This was the first time anyone had ever chosen him for anything! Usually, he was partnered with the last person in class, who was usually Hinata. Naruto shook his head to clear it, and met Sasuke's fist with his own. The partners walked outside, and sat down in the shade of a tree.

Sasuke, once again, spoke first. "Well, if we're going to work together, we should tell each other about what we can do. I can do a couple fire jutsus, Kawarimi, Bushin, and Henge. You?"

Naruto nodded. "Makes sense. I can do Kawarimi, Bushin, Henge, Maruishi Meiun, Doro Bushin (Mud Clone), and Touji Tate (Clay Shield)." Sasuke was curious. They had never been taught anything useful in the Academy except Kawarimi, Bushin and Henge. The only reason Sasuke knew the fire jutsu was that they were in his family's scroll library, and he had found a skill with them a few years ago.

"How did you learn earth jutsus?" he asked. Naruto blinked, surprised at the question.

"Well, I was bored with what we learned at the Academy, cause incase you haven't noticed, the only things we've learned are Genjutsu." Naruto responded. "I hate Genjutsu! So I asked Oji-san to teach me something cooler! He gave me four scrolls, and told me to return the three I didn't like. They each had jutsus of different elements on them. Water was no good. You can only use it when there's water nearby. I'm no good at fire. Takes too much control to make the fire do what you want. Wind was sorta better. But I'm much better with earth, so I gave the other three back to Oji-san. He gave me tons more earth scrolls, so now I'm an earth master!"

Listening to Naruto's explanation, Sasuke only had one question. "Who's Oji-san?"

"The Hokage." Naruto said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Sasuke blinked. "You call the Hokage Oji-san?"

Naruto nodded. "Why not?"

Sasuke thought about it. It just seemed like Oji-san wasn't something you called the Hokage. "No reason, I guess." The two looked around for some inspiration for their team project. Their eyes lit upon the giant pillar left over from their attacks. They looked at each other, and smirked.

At the end of the half hour, the class was called back together. They had to demonstrate their move on Iruka, who wasn't really worried. They were just Cadets after all. They couldn't really hurt him, Right? Sakura used Bushins to distract Iruka, while Ino used shurikens that passed through the fakes to get to him. Iruka gave it a pass.

Kiba and Akamaru used their usual fang over fang technique to hit Iruka, which led to a debate over Kiba had done anything since he was always with Akamaru. Kiba put up a furious debate that Iruka hadn't said that their partner had to be human, and was given a pass.

Shino had swarms of bugs envelop Iruka, while Hinata saw through the bugs with her Byakugan and hit Iruka. Once again, a pass. Shikamaru held Iruka in place with Kagemane no Jutsu, while Chouji attacked him with his Meat Tank. After Iruka picked himself off the ground, he gave them a pass.

Finally, they came to Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto began with Maruishi Meiun, which Sasuke set on fire with a **_Hinotama no Jutsu_ **(Fireball technique). Iruka dodged the flaming projectile, and was about to give the two a pass, when he heard Naruto say from behind him "_**Touji Tate no Jutsu**!_ (Clay shield technique)" Naruto raised a shield of clay behind Iruka, bouncing the flaming rock ball back at Iruka. He dodged again, getting sorta tired. Then Sasuke sent it back at him with another fireball! Iruka was tired. Then he heard Naruto again "**_Doro Bushin no Jutsu!_** (Mud Clone technique)" The fires on the boulder went out, and it turned into mud, then the mud turned into several Narutos, all of which punched Iruka in the gut. As he went down, Iruka said "Pass. Good job!" He then collapsed, holding his stomach. With that done, the bell to dismiss the students rang.

Naruto and Sasuke exited side by side. Instead of going home like he usually did, Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Wanna train?" Naruto nodded, and the two went to practice what they did. Sasuke was by far the better shot with kunai and shuriken, and enjoyed passing on his skills and expertise (for an academy student) to someone who didn't know as much as he did (a rarity in his family). "Like this?" Naruto asked, as he held a shuriken in a ready position.

"No," Sasuke said, and then he drew another shuriken and went into the correct position. "More like this!"

As they trained, kicked the crap out of each other, and learned from each other, a simple friendship grew. There was potential, vast potential for it, and it would last for years.

The next morning, Naruto sat down in his seat. The only person not there was Sasuke. Naruto overheard some classmates talking. "Did you hear? Itachi went crazy and slaughtered his whole family! Apparently, Sasuke was the only one that survived." Hearing this, Naruto bolted out of his seat and ran through Konoha toward the Uchiha compound.

Sure enough, as he reached the gates, he saw that the compound was boarded up and covered in caution tape. But there was one small section where there was none. Naruto ran through, and tried to find the main house. He found it easily enough, he just had to follow the sounds of sobbing. As he entered the room, he saw Sasuke crying on the floor.

Sasuke looked up to see who was intruding upon his grief. When he saw Naruto, he tried to pull himself together. But he failed, and next thing he knew, Naruto was next him holding him while he cried.

Something changed that day. Sasuke became even colder then before, if possible. But the one person his outer shell cracked around was Naruto. The two were inseparable. It quickly became their unspoken rule: "Where I go, he goes."

Far away, in Suna, the Kazekage stood in his tower. His son Gaara had gone on another rampage, killing about five people and two assassins. The boy was most skilled, but he had to be sent away. If he wasn't he would annihilate the whole town! Then the Kazekage got an idea.

The following letter was sent out from Suna to Konoha.

_My fellow Kage,_

_I propose, as a symbol of unity, that I send you my son Gaara. He will be trained in your academy, and grow up to be a shinobi of the leaf. It is my way of saying thank you for being out ally_

The following note was sent in response

_It would be our pleasure to have Gaara in Konoha. When will he arrive?_

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A/N: Well, there's chapter One again! More'll becoming once I get results for this one!


	2. Sandy Problems

A/N: Well, chapter two is here again! I've been getting better results for it then I did originally. That's the plus with being on the alert list of over 200 people! Here we go!

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It was a month after the Uchiha massacre. Itachi had been labeled an S-class missing nin, and Sasuke had withdrawn inside of a cold shell. Or, at least, he had at first. After a few fights with Naruto, which often ended with them both in the hospital, he had been forced to conclude that becoming depressed, withdrawn, and power driven would be doing exactly what his brother wanted. Now, he was almost exactly the way he was before the massacre, except that he was more emotional and often cried himself to sleep.

Two other great changes had occurred in the month, both revolving around Naruto. The first was that he was no longer regarded as the dead last of the class: that honor went to Shikamaru. No, he was tied with Sasuke at the head of the class, with the two jockeying for the lead frequently in a friendly competition. The two teamed up at every team assignment, and their earth/fire jutsu combinations were becoming a thing to be feared. They always spared against each other in field days, often fighting at high Gennin, usually Chunin, and possibly even Jounin level. And, to the enormous relief of Sasuke, half of Sasuke's fan club had switched their allegiance to Naruto, now cheering him on at every chance and believing he could do no wrong. Sakura was the very enthusiastic president of the Naruto Fan Club, often the first to hit people who insulted (or seemed to insult) her Naruto-kun, even if he himself had no idea he had developed a fan following.

The Second, and smaller change, was that Naruto had moved into the Uchiha Compound. Sasuke was the sole legal heir of the compound, and all of the Uchiha possessions, so there was no problem with him moving in, other then the usual 'he'll corrupt the Uchiha!' cry. The reason the change had come about was as simple as a visit to Naruto's rundown apartment. Naruto had had to run in and change before they went to get some ramen (their training session that day had destroyed most of his clothes, much to his fan clubs glee).

Sasuke had walked into Naruto's apartment, and was trying to figure out how someone with such a big personality could live in such a small place. The wallpaper was pealing off, there was trash everywhere, and Sasuke was pretty sure that he'd seen a rat. Naruto came back out of his room, dressed in a fresh orange jumpsuit. He stopped dead when he saw Sasuke there.

"I thought you were waiting outside." He said, clearly embarrassed about his apartment.

Sasuke surveyed the apartment again. "I was, but I decided to come up." He let lose a small fireball, toasting the very persistent rat that lived in the trash heap. He looked up at Naruto. "You're coming to live in my house. I have much more space then I would ever need, and I am not letting you live here anymore." Naruto started to protest, but then looked around the apartment himself. There really was no reason to stay here. The landlord only put up with him because the Hokage made him, and the only reason stayed here was because there was no where else to go.

"I'll think about it." Naruto said. Sasuke nodded, as if he hadn't expected any other answer. But Naruto's decision was made quickly by a man who had been walking by, and had spotted the open door.

The man barged in. "Demon, how many times have I told you to shut your door? We don't need your foul smell going through the rest of the building!" Then the man spotted Sasuke. "Uchiha-sama, what are you doing here? This is perhaps the last place I ever expected to find you."

Sasuke looked up at the big, fat, bald man. "I'm talking with my friend. We're in the middle of something. Can you leave us alone?" The man, at hearing this, connected strange things as only people determined to hate other people can.

"Friend?" the man sputtered. He looked at Naruto. "The demon must have brainwashed you! I'll free you, Uchiha-sama!" With that, the man charged at Naruto, who didn't make a move to protect himself. After all, it was a fat bald man. He was a trained ninja. If he protected himself, he would probably kill the man, causing other people to hate him more. He closed his eyes. Just because he wouldn't be hurt much, didn't mean he wouldn't hurt.

The blow never came. Naruto opened his eyes a crack, then they shot open. The fist had stopped about an inch from his face, but that wasn't what shocked him. Sasuke had grabbed the man's arm, and was exerting such force that the man couldn't move forward, though his arm was trembling with effort. But the real thing that shocked Naruto was that Sasuke's face was contorted with rage. Hate shone in his dark eyes, and his usually expressionless face was seething with such anger that it was palpable.

"I suggest you leave. Now!" Sasuke said, screaming the last part. His other arm was trembling as well, only there was nothing holding his arm back from pounding the crap out of the man but sheer force of will. The man took one look at the rage filled face of Uchiha Sasuke, and ran as fast as possible. Sasuke looked back at Naruto, his face under control again except for the fact that pure rage still glowed in his eyes.

Naruto nodded. The message was loud and clear, and very simple. "I'll get my things together, and then we'll go to the Hokage to let him know I've changed my address." Sasuke nodded as well.

After dropping Naruto's meager possessions off at the Uchiha compound, the two boys had headed to the Hokages, who had took in the news that Naruto would be in the Uchiha's place from now on without even the bat of an eye. As the two turned to leave, the Hokage called them. "Naruto, I'm assuming that you have continued your study of earth jutsus?" Naruto nodded.

"And Sasuke, I'm guessing that, like all your family, you are extremely talented in fire jutsus?" Sasuke also nodded, making a "Hn" sound.

"Then I have a gift for you two." The two turned around, looking startled. The Hokage reached under his desk, and pulled out three scrolls. Naruto looked at the first. "Koudo Bakko? Well, this one's for me!"

Sasuke looked at the second. "Kasai Seibutsu Tenshoku. Wow. This is going to be interesting." They both poured over the heading of the final scroll.

"Daichi Houka Kumiai no Jutsu?" They looked up at the third with awe and shock on their faces. Naruto spoke up. "But, Oji-san, this is an S-level jutsu!"

Sandaime chuckled. "Are you saying that the two of you aren't up to it?" That got the two of them. They both grabbed all three of the scrolls and walked out the door. That had happened a month ago. Now the two twelve-year old boys spent almost all the time attempting to master Daichi Houka Kumiai no Jutsu. Naruto had mastered Koudo Bakko extremely quickly, and Sasuke had also gained control of Kasai Seibutsu Tenshoku within the week. But the powers of Daichi Houka Kumiai no Jutsu were beyond them for the moment.

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In Suna, that month had been spent quite productively as well. Gaara had been packed up quickly, and with the promise of going somewhere the kids didn't fear him, was very willing to go. He did, however, have one stipulation. And when Sabaku no Gaara has a stipulation, an order, a suggestion, hell, a stupid joke (not that he makes any of those), it was usually taken, agreed to or laughed at, depending on which it was.

His condition was that he be accompanied by his siblings. They were the only good memory he had of this place, and wanted to take them with him. The Kazekage was only too happy to agree, as he had been trying to figure out what to do with Temari and Kankuro anyway. But in return, Gaara had to do something for him.

As he walked up to the gates of Konoha with his sister, brother, and the Sand Ninja escort, his fathers voice echoed in his head. "_You must seek housing with one of the more promising clans, and attempt to befriend them._" Gaara knew what his father hoped to accomplish. He wanted Gaara to go crazy, attack with Shukaku, destroy a clan, then when the villagers killed him, declare war on Konoha for killing his precious son. All of the other villagers would side with sand. After all, it was clear who was in the right here. Boy, unable to control himself, killed by vengeful villagers.

But Gaara would do as his father had asked. But he would control himself, and not kill anyone! But his hopes of doing that easily were short lived, as he was inspected by the Konoha gate guards. One said, "So this is the fearsome Sabaku no Gaara. He doesn't look so tough."

All of the sand party gasped, and edged away from Gaara and the guard. The guard stopped chuckling, sensing something wrong. But instead of the bloodbath that everyone expected, Gaara inclined his head slightly and said "I hope to prove you wrong."

The sand ninja gaped at Gaara, then looked at the guard, thinking that maybe it was an illusion and the guard was dead with a genjutsu left in his place. One of the more enterprising shinobi walked up to the guard and poked him. The sand ninja turned to his fellows. "He's real!" All of the ninja gasped. Another sand ninja grabbed the guard, and took him off to the side.

All he said was "You have no clue how close you were to dying just then." The guard began to chuckle, but then he saw that they sand nin was being completely serious. He stopped chuckling, and turned deathly pale. The two ninjas walked back over to the party. The leaf ninja bowed low.

"My apologies, Gaara-san." Gaara waved off the apology, acting like it wasn't necessary, but he was secretly glad the guard had apologized. Shukaku was screaming for the man's blood, and was sated by his fear. The sand siblings waked through the gates. According to the letter from the Hokage, they were to let him know they were there, then go to the Academy. Gaara smirked. Imagine, his siblings and him and an academy with pathetic kids who could barely master a bushin.

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After meeting the Hokage, the three headed towards the academy. The Hokage had been a nice guy, and, in startling contrast to his Suna counterpart, actually seemed to care about the wellbeing of the siblings. As he walked, Gaara looked down at a piece of paper the old man had given him. It had his new address on in. He wondered what the words the Hokage had spoken when he gave him this paper meant.

_"We were originally going to house you with the Yamanaka clan, as they have so much space. But due to- recent tragedies, you will be staying at the Uchiha Compound. There are only two residents there right now."_

'I wonder what the big tragedy was." Gaara thought as they walked up their classroom. Gaara looked at the paper again, this time focusing on the second part, which said their classroom number. 'Classroom 7-G, Teacher: Umino Iruka. Oh this is going to be interesting.' He thought as he pushed open the door.

Iruka looked around and saw the three thirteen year olds standing there. 'Oh crap. I almost forgot we were getting new students today.' "Ok, class, I think these are our new students. Please, introduce yourselves."

Kankuro stepped in front. "I'm Sabaku no Kankuro, and I specialize in the Art of the Puppet Master."

Temari walked up next to him. "Sabaku no Temari, and I'm good with wind jutsus."

Gaara walked up in between them. Temari looked next to him. "This is Sabaku no Gaara." Gaara looked up, and everyone could see the borderline insanity in his eyes.

Gaara spoke. "If you mess with me, I will kill you." The entire class turned pale, except for three people. Naruto, Sasuke, and surprisingly, Ino. Ino walked up to the front.

"Welcome to our class." She said. Kankuro and Temari nodded, but Gaara just stared. He could tell when people were afraid of him, and a vast majority of this class was terrified of him, but this girl wasn't. He wondered why.

Naruto looked at the scene in front of him. The bigger boy with the face paint was interesting. He looked like he could hold his own in a fight, and also laugh about it later. The girl was just plain cute. Naruto liked her a lot. And the smaller boy… Naruto felt small shivers run up his spine, but not from terror. He could sense the vast power in the boy, and wanted to fight him. Naruto looked over at Sasuke, and could tell that his friend was having the exact same reaction, except for the part about the girl.

Iruka cleared his throat to dispel the momentary tension. "In honor of our new students, we'll have a special field day today! Team sparring! Two on two!" The class cheered, and immediately started pairing up.

As they entered the sparing grounds, Naruto and Sasuke took the biggest one. They looked across at their opponents. Gaara and Kankuro stood across from them. In Unison, the two friends nodded. Gaara took a few steps forward, so he was in front of Kankuro. He said, "I'll do it. You'll just get in the way." Kankuro nodded, and sat down.

All around them, Iruka was calling matches. It had become common practice to have all matches finished before they started Naruto and Sasuke's match, as they usually needed more then one training field. Almost all the matches were finished. The last one was Temari and Ino against Sakura and Hinata. The second team was faring badly, due to a large lack in teamwork, and Temari's sheer force. Temari used her fan as a club to knock then both down. On the way down, Sakura and Hinata's heads met, and with a loud clunk, both were knocked unconscious. As Sasuke and Naruto watched, Temari swept back her battle fan, and yelled "**_Ninpo: Kamaitatchi!_** (Ninja Arts: Slashing Wind)". The resulting wind funnel blew toward Sakura and Hinata. Sasuke could see that that windstorm was far too strong, and if it connected, it would probably kill the two. He signaled Naruto, and the two jumped into action.

Naruto landed right in front of the wind funnel, and focused his Chakra. "**_Touji Tate no Jutsu!_** (Clay shield technique)" he cried, as he raised his shield. The windstorm was too strong for him to hold it back for long, so he screamed "Sasuke! Move them!" Sasuke nodded, and grabbed Sakura. He managed to get her out of the path, when he heard another yell from Naruto. "I can't hold it back much longer!"

There was a small explosion, and Naruto's clay shield was broken. The wind swept toward Hinata, who was still lying prone on the ground. With speed born of desperation, Sasuke jumped in between the wind and Hinata. With Naruto's clay shield having taken the brunt of it, all it really did to Sasuke was tear off his shirt and leave him with a couple of cuts. It hurt, Sasuke had to admit. But what was far more important to him was that Hinata was safe. She was perhaps the only girl who wasn't gaa-gaa over him or Naruto, and he enjoyed talking to her.

Temari was pissed now. She was going to kill those bitches! In Suna, a sparring match wasn't over until the opponents were incapacitated or dead. She swung her fan- only to discover she couldn't move it anymore. She looked around, and saw that the boy who had delayed her first Kamaitatchi grabbing her fan. He looked up at her, and their eyes met. "Stop." He said. "The match is over. You won."

Iruka observed this whole scene. "Ummm, winner: Temari and Ino!" There was mild applause, and a few people rushed over to check on Sakura and Hinata. Naruto let go of Temari's fan. "Remember, just because you're cute doesn't mean you can kill people." He walked away, oblivious to the blush he left on Temari's cheeks.

'Time for the grand finale.' Iruka thought. "It's time for the final match: Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke against Sabaku no Kankuro and Sabaku no Gaara!" There was applause from all around them. Sasuke and Naruto got back into their arena, and the class moved away to watch at a safe distance.

Sasuke decided to start things off. He launched a couple of shurikens at Gaara, thinking that he could test his reaction time. But to his surprise, Gaara didn't move at all. Instead, some sand came out of the gourd on his back and blocked the attack. Naruto launched a Kunai at Gaara's leg, only to have another slab of sand rise up and block it.

Gaara extended an arm, and the sand rushed at Naruto and Sasuke. They dodged to the left and right. The sand hesitated for a minute, then went to the left, after Naruto. Sasuke took this opportunity to attack Kankuro with a kick to the face, knocking him out. But the sand caught up to Naruto.

It engulfed him. Gaara squeezed his hand shut. "**_Sabaku Kyuu!_ **(Desert Coffin)" and the sand began to tighten around Naruto. But from within the cocoon, Naruto's voice echoed out. "**_Koudo Bakko!_ **(Earth Domination)" A small stream of dirt came out of the ground, and mixed with the sand. Then, to the vast surprise of everyone watching, the coffin expanded, the sand being forced apart by dirt! Shock painted even Gaara's face, as he watched his sand mastery be pushed aside by this boy's mastery of earth.

Naruto landed, panting. "Koudo Bakko. A Jounin level technique which grants the user complete dominance of the earth beneath us for as long as I maintain the technique. I've practiced it so many times that I don't even need hand seals for it."

Gaara sneered. "You call yourself a ninja, telling the opponent all your secrets?"

Naruto snorted. "No, I call myself a ninja because I just bought enough time."

Gaara heard a voice from behind him that said** "_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!_ **(Fire Style: Powerful flame technique)". He spun around, and saw that Sasuke had gotten into position and was launching his fireball at him! The sand raised to stop it. It did, but was fused into glass. Now most of his sand was gone, fused into glass, and from his other side came Naruto's voice "**_Doton: Maruishi Meiun no Jutsu!_ **(Earth Style: Boulder doom technique)"

Gaara looked around, and saw a huge boulder rolling at him! Gaara did what he didn't want to do. He dissolved his gourd into sand, and used that sand to halt the boulder. But he was running low on sand, and it would take him a while to get that glass back into sand.

Naruto began sweating. It took a lot of control to have the boulder continue spinning at the speed it was at. But it was worth it as he saw Sasuke get into position. It was good that they were such a good team. This sand guy have destroyed either of them if they had worked by themselves. But he couldn't handle two pronged attacks, especially once he was out of sand.

Sasuke leapt up into the air, and went through the familiar signs. "**_Hinotama no Jutsu!_ **(Fireball technique)" A much smaller fireball came through, and sizzled right through Gaara's defenses, leaving a small burn on his shoulder. Sasuke smirked. They could get through his defenses! Sasuke nodded at Naruto, who used the continuing power of Koudo Bakko to create a huge stalactite and throw it at Gaara. Gaara dodged behind the slab of glass, and the stalactite was stopped.

Sabaku no Gaara swallowed. He was nervous, for the first time ever. He knew he was going to lose this fight. The two cadets from Konoha were far superior to anyone he had ever fought in Suna. Plus, he didn't have the limitless sand that he had in the desert. Sabaku no Gaara swallowed his pride. It was time to say the three words that had never passed his lips before.

"I give up!"

Naruto and Sasuke, both who had been charging at Gaara with kunais drawn, skidded to a halt. Both seemed dumbstruck. They weren't the only ones. Temari had never seen her brother lose before, and her mouth was hanging open. But it wasn't as wide as Kankuro's, who had just woken up to see his brother surrender.

Gaara squeezed his eyes shut as he heard footsteps approach him. It was time for the humiliation and sorrow. Whenever you lost, you were punished for it. But to his surprise, when the footsteps stopped, no blow came. He cracked open one of his eyes, then they both shot wide open. Naruto stood in front of him, hand outstretched. Gaara felt his mouth drop open. No one had ever offered him even the slightest bit of camaraderie before, and now this stranger, who had just wiped the floor with him, was offering it? With a trembling hand, Gaara shook Naruto's outstretched one. Naruto nodded and smiled, happy he had broken through to this tough, seemingly crazy, boy.

After the excitement of the sparring session died down, it was already time for the end of class. They were all dismissed, and Naruto and Sasuke began to walk west, toward the Uchiha compound. Usually, they were alone on the road, as no one wanted to go near the old Uchiha place. But today, they were being followed by the three sand siblings. Naruto turned around and yelled "Oy! Sandy, Painty, Windy! Where're you guys headed?"

The sand siblings gave a start at being addressed so, then decided it would be best just to answer the question. Kankuro decided to do it, as Temari was staring at the blonde kid while blushing, and Gaara was still being silent. "It says on our paper that we're supposed to be living with the Uchiha clan. You know where that it?"

Sasuke turned around. "The Uchiha clan? Well, that would be me. I guess the Hokage shoved you in with us because we have a lot of space. Well, we do. Just follow me, and take any room that doesn't have one of our clan symbols on it. And don't muck up the place."

Naruto and Sasuke continued walking, and it took Gaara a moment to realize that they were moving again. So he was going to be living with those two? Well, at least it wouldn't be boring.

As they entered the main building, Sasuke went into his room, which was marked with the Uchiha fan. Naruto went into the one right next to it, which had the Uzumaki spiral on it. The trio from sand stood there for a moment, and tried to figure out where to go. Temari choose first, and moved into the room across from Naruto's. Gaara choose next, and moved into the one next to Sasuke's. Kankuro stood there for a minute. "Where the hell am I supposed to go?" he screamed.

Temari lay down on her new bed. This place was much nicer then Suna. Maybe she would like it here! 'And maybe I'll get a glimpse of Naruto in a towel!' she thought. Temari blushed. Of course that wasn't the reason she'd picked the door across from Naruto's. Of course it wasn't! No sir-e, there was no way that was why she picked the room across from his.

Kankuro settled into his room. He began unpacking his puppets, the only real thing he had brought. Karasu's neck spring was a little slow. Time to change it!

Naruto had only started his usual training methods (pushups with a 20 pound weight on his back) when there was a knock on his door. Surprised, he walked over and opened it. There was Gaara, standing as if he didn't have a care in the world. As soon as Naruto opened the door, Gaara walked in to his room.

Naruto looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "So, what do you want?"

Gaara sat down. "Just to... talk"

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A couple of miles away, a brown haired boy walked into his home. His father got up from his chair and walked over to him. "So, Kazan, how was the academy today?"

His son said, "Some new transfer students came in today. One of them held his own against Naruto and Sasuke for a while."

The father cursed. "Another one! Kazan, you must get stronger. There are now three people in your class stronger then you! If you ever want to get revenge on the Kyuubi for killing your mother, you must beat all three of them!"

"Um... Tou-san? Isn't the Kyuubi already dead?" Kazan asked. "Besides, there're loads of people in class stronger then me. I don't really care all that much."

The man gaped at his son. "Don't you want to be the best ninja!"

"Of course, but everyone knows the academy standings are a joke. Once we get promoted, I'll show how strong I am!"

"Just... train. Train to get our vengence."  
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A/N: That was chapter two... again!


	3. Koutetsu

A/N: Here we go again!

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Ever since the Sand Siblings, or more importantly Gaara, joined their little group, Naruto and Sasuke had been happy. For the first time in their life, they were both actually happy to be alive. Kankurou spent most of his time in his room, tinkering with his puppets. But when he came out, he came up with pranks that put anything Naruto had created to shame. Temari had been oddly quiet for a few days after she moved in, but had recovered, and now spent most of her free time with Naruto.

And Gaara, he had bonded closely with both Naruto and Sasuke. He came out of his shell a lot, but was still given to 'fits of creepyness' as Naruto called them. He listened to Naruto's bad jokes, and was starting to develop a sense of humor, much to the shock of his siblings. He and Sasuke had been known to sit in the living room watching TV in silence for hours, which they called bonding. He also joined their sparring sessions, which Temari and Kankurou deemed 'too intense', and could hold his own. Gaara had figured out how to speed his sand up to block multiple attacks, and how to create more sand by compressing minerals underground.

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The friends were sitting in the academy when Iruka-sensei delivered some news that shocked and thrilled them. "I've noticed that you students seem to learn the most from watching combat or actual experience. So I've decided to hold a class tournament." That news was greeted by loud cheers from the class. "Any male ninja who wishes to participate, come up and put a piece of paper with your name on it in this box." He held out a box with a hole cut in the top.

There was a flurry as people decided whether or not they wanted to enter. People made their way up to Iruka and put their name in, then sat back down. After ten minutes, the class was restored to order. Iruka shook the box. "Only a few names in here. Well, we'll have to make sure it's a good tournament!"

He reached in and withdrew two names. "The first match is Uchiha Sasuke versus Inuzaka Kiba!" He drew a tournament bracket up on the wall, and put the two names in the first slot. Sasuke was disappointed that he didn't get to fight someone worth a challenge, while Kiba was relishing the chance to prove he was better then one of the top students in class.

"The second match is Aburame Shino versus Sabaku no Gaara!" Iruka announced. The two stoic cadets looked each other over for a minute, then decided it would be best not to say anything at all. Of course, Shino usually didn't say much.

Iruka reached into the box again. "The third match is Akamichi Chouji versus Uzumaki Naruto!" Chouji looked over at Shikamaru, who was predictably trying to fall asleep.

"I guess you that means you'll be fighting the guy with the face paint, Shika?" Chouji said. His lazy friend looked back at him as if he were crazy.

"I didn't enter, Chouji. Too troublesome."

"But if you didn't enter, who did?"

Iruka withdrew the final two names. "The final match is Sabaku no Kankurou versus Koutetsu Kazan!" There was a small amount of applause, but minor confusion. Kazan was a very shy boy, who usually didn't do much. He was high in the academic portion of the Academy, but towards the middle in actual combat performance. Everyone wondered why the boy would enter a tournament with all the best of the class in it.

Iruka looked around, and announced "We will now begin drawing for the Kunoichi tournament!" A couple of girls went up and put their name in the box. Iruka withdrew them all, two in each hand. "The matches will be Haruno Sakura versus Hyuuga Hinata and Sabaku no Temari versus Yamanaka Ino!" There was applause.

"The tournament will take place on Friday! Until then, you have the rest of the week off!" Iruka's news was greeted with a flurry of cheers from the less restrained students in the class. "Until then, you are dismissed!" All of the students left, most chattering excitedly about the tournament.

Naruto, Sasuke and the Sand Siblings walked out together. Kankurou was feeling relieved. "Well, I was worried that I was going to get paired up with one of you guys, but I took the risk, and I ended up the luckiest one of us all! I get to fight some kid no one's ever heard of, and it's like a free pass to the second round!"

Unknown to Kankurou, said boy had overheard his comments. 'I might not be as high profile as Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara, but I can hold my own, and I can definitely beat this joker!' he thought.

Unknown to either of them, Iruka-sensei was watching them with a grin. He'd hoped Kazan would enter, if only to break out of his shell. He had been hoping to see Kazan fight since he'd read a report he'd written a couple of weeks back.

The topic of the report was 'Why I fight the way I do', and pretty much everyone had written a page or two that translated to 'Because I'm good at it', or 'Because that's the way my family does it'. But Kazan's report was very, very different. It detailed how he fought the way he did because he wanted to restore his family's honor. That might seem to be the same thing as 'Because that's the way my family does it', but it was extremely different.

The Koutetsu had been a very prestigious clan at the founding of Konoha, diplomats with silver tongues to the last. Their diplomatic skills had gained them many friends, and they had held all ten greater summoning contracts in the world. Then an assassin had killed the leader of the clan in his sleep, and had made off with all but one of the summoning contracts, bringing the Koutetsu to squalor.

Now, the last two of the once prestigious clan were Kazan and his father. His father had settled for a life of mediocrity, but Kazan had made it his ambition to regain the ten contracts, to restore his clan's former glory.

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The day of the tournament came. All week, they had been training hard. All except for Kankurou, who had taken it easy claiming that his opponent was easy pickings. "I wouldn't be surprised if the brat didn't show up! I mean, he is fighting me!"

The class met on the training grounds, with bleachers set up a couple of hundred feet away. All of the class that wouldn't be in the tournament sat down, ready to watch their friends beat the living crap out of each other.

The kunoichi tournament was first, and it started and ended swiftly. Hinata knocked Sakura out with a well placed strike, and Temari blew Ino away with a good Kamaitatchi. In the finals, it was wind against fist as the two fought for a good ten minutes without getting a blow in. Finally, Temari gave Hinata an uppercut with her fan, which she then snapped open and connected solidly with a Kamaitatchi, making Temari the winner.

From the bleachers, Naruto yelled "Yay Temari-chan! Good job!"

Temari blushed a little. 'Temari-chan? Where did that come from? Not that I mind, of course.' She then made her way into the bleachers, and was awarded her prize by Iruka-sensei: A kunai infused with chakra by the weapon making clan of the leaf, infused with enough chakra to make sure it would never miss its target.

The male ninja tournament began with Sasuke versus Kiba. It was looking pretty bad for Sasuke, as he was being attack from both sides with Kiba's **_Tsuuga_ **(piercing fang) by Kiba and a Kiba-like Akamaru. But then he got serious, and lashed out with kicks that were shrouded in chakra flames. Akamaru went down first, mildly burnt. Kiba then made the mistake of charging the Uchiha, who brought him down with a **_Hinotama no Jutsu_** (fireball technique).

The second match was a very strange one, as neither of the competitors moved at all. Instead, sand and bugs clashed all over the arena. The bugs were crushed by the sand, and the chakra was drained out of the sand by the bugs. But Shino was so intent of having his bugs maintain a constant assault on Gaara that he forgot to leave some for defense. A small tail of sand snaked out of the ground and wrapped around the bug cadet, squeezing until he was knocked unconscious.

The third match was one of pure physical strength. Chouji used his partial multi-size techniques to make his arms huge and launch punches, while Naruto wrapped himself in earth to boost his strength. It ended with Chouji launching into a Meat Tank, and Naruto countering with **_Maruishi Meiun no Jutsu_ **(Boulder doom technique). The rock was harder then Chouji's skull, and he was knocked out.

No one really expected much from the next fight. It was someone that no one noticed against Sabaku no Kankurou, a master of the puppet master techniques. Every time someone said that they couldn't wait to see Naruto versus Kankurou, a small fire was lit in the belly of Kazan. So they didn't think he could win, did they? 'I'll prove you wrong!' he thought as he eased his katana in its sheath.

As the next two competitors entered the field, everyone got their first good look at Kazan. Usually, they just didn't pay much attention where the cadet was concerned, figuring him to be just another one of the nameless cadets in the class. He had short brown hair on top of a squarish face. His build was light, and springy. He wore a lot of green, with only his clan symbol (a pair of crossed swords) on his back. Over all, he was pretty unremarkable.

"Sabaku no Kankurou versus Koutetsu Kazan! Hajime!" Iruka cried.

"I'll wrap this up fast!" yelled Kankurou as he attached his Chakra strings to the bandage-wrapped bundle on his back. The bandages fell away, revealing Karasu, Kankurou's favorite puppet. It scampered in front of Kankurou, and opened its mouth to begin shooting streams of poisoned daggers at the opponent.

Kazan stood calmly as the daggers darted towards him. Kankuro smirked, thinking that maybe the cadet was paralyzed with fear. But his hopes were short lived as Kazan drew his Katana. Kazan spoke out. "**_Kaze Ryou!_ **(Wind Charge)" A current of air wrapped around him, knocking the daggers away. Then the air current blew him upwards, much to the shock of everyone watching.

In the peak of his flight, he yelled something else out. "Kenjutsu: Style of the slashing falcon!" As he fell, he positioned his blade over three chakra strings and infused his blade with chakra. As Kazan landed on one knee, his blade severed those strings! A wide slash and a thrust severed the other seven. In shock, Kankurou could only watch as Karasu fell, and the very surprising boy rushed at him.

Kankurou felt cold steel on his stomach, and looked down to see the boy with the katana positioned to puncture it with one good thrust. Kazan looked up, and met Kankurou's eyes with his hard green ones. "Give up. Now." He said. Agreeing that that was the wisest course of action, Kankurou raised his hand and waved at Iruka, the sign of surrender.

Everyone was speechless. The person they hadn't expected to do anything but get ripped apart by Kankurou's puppets had won, without even braking a sweat! Sakura was the first to start clapping. Naruto joined in, and pretty soon the entire class was applauding and whooping, surprised but impressed by their comrade's easy victory. Iruka spoke up. "Winner: Koutetsu Kazan!"

Kazan walked back to the stands, taking his place next to the other three finalists, and began to meditate. He liked Naruto. He really did. But his father had said that if he ever got an opportunity, he should decapitate the boy. As he meditated, the first match of the second round began.

This match was kind of a let down to the crowd. Gaara had used a great deal of Chakra in his match against Shino, and Sasuke still had most of his. Sand was turned quickly into glass, and Gaara was knocked out with a well placed **_Goukakyuu no Jutsu_ **(powerful flame technique).

The final match before the finals was about to begin. It was Uzumaki Naruto, earth master, against Koutetsu Kazan, whose most obvious talent was skill with the blade. The two went down to the arena and faced off.

"I'll start this off with a bang! **_Doton: Maruishi Meiun no Jutsu!_**"The huge boulder came out of the ground, rolling toward Kazan.

"**_Kaze Ryou_**!" came the cry, and the wind assisted Kazan as he jumped right over the boulder. 'Time to get serious." Kazan thought, as he bit his thumb. **"_Kuchyose no Jutsu!_ **(summoning technique)" he cried as he made the seals and pounded the bloody digit into the ground. A large gasp came from the crowd as a falcon the size of a small dog appeared.

"What do you require, Kazan-sama?" the falcon asked.

Kazan pointed at Naruto. "Distract him for a moment, Takadou-kun." The falcon nodded, and flew toward Naruto, who began raising clay shields to defend against the relentless assault of the falcon.

In the stands, Iruka was gaping. 'The boy can summon! So he's already managed to get back one of his families contracts, or maybe that's the won that wasn't stolen. Either way, that's still a Jounin level technique!'

Back on the field, Kazan was planning. 'He's good. He can probably handle a two pronged assault, but what about three?' Biting his index finger, he slammed it into the ground. "**_Kuchyose no Jutsu_!**" A cloud of smoke formed around Kazen.

Iruka was looking on. 'What could good could Kuchyose do him? He's already summoned something, and another falcon would probably do absolutely nothing against Naruto. But maybe…' As the smoke cleared, Iruka gasped.

A large blue wolf stood next to Kazan.

"Kazan-sama. What do you need me for?" the wolf inquired.

"Help out Takadou-kun please, Ookamitomo-kun."

"You summoned from both contracts! Who the hell are you fighting!"

"Just help me." Kazan said in exasperation.

"You're the boss."

Everyone who watched that little exchange sweatdropped.

The wolf charged, taking Naruto by surprise. Kazan drew his sword, and cried "Kenjutsu: Style of the Howling Wolf!". He charged in a totally different sword stance then before.

Naruto was getting tired, he had to admit. He was being attacked from three sides by a falcon, a wolf, and a cadet wielding a sword. Right now, the wolf was the biggest threat. It could break through his clay shields with ease, and only evasive dodging had saved Naruto's limbs. Naruto scanned the training ground, and his eyes lit upon the boulder his earlier attack had created. He made some hand seals. "**_Doro Bushin no Jutsu!_ **(Mud Clone technique)". The boulder split into five Naruto clones.

Two clones charged Kazan, while one leapt at the falcon. The last two joined Naruto in an assault on the wolf. The big wolf was panting heavily. He spotted a small spike of soil stabbing for his heart. Death here meant that he would be sent back to the land of summons, but it would still hurt a lot. Apologizing to his master, the wolf dissipated.

Without the wolf, Kazan's battle strategy crumbled. The lone Naruto made short work of the falcon, who also choose to dissipate before being killed. That left Kazan alone against Naruto and two clones (He had taken out the two facing him, and the wolf had gotten one). With a smile, Kazan cried "**_Kaze Ryou!_**" and took to the air again.

'This might take the last of my energy, but I'll win this match and make my dad proud!' he thought. "Kenjutsu: Style of the Slashing Falcon!" He landed on one knee again, and the two clones poofed out of existence, having been cut through with a blade that had been infused with all of Kazan's Chakra.

Kazan looked behind him, expecting to see Naruto dead or dying. But to his surprise, the only mark Naruto had on him was a gash to the forearm. Kazan's eyes widened with shock, but then he saw the dirt falling from Naruto's arm. "You gathered the dirt around your arm and enforced the shield with all of your chakra. Impressive." Then he passed out.

Iruka snapped out of his stunned state, and announced "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

There was scattered applause, but most people were watching the unconscious boy who everyone thought was just another face in the crowd. Naruto looked over at Iruka. "I'm almost out of Chakra. I don't have anywhere near the amount I need to fight Sasuke. Can we just say he wins?"

Iruka nodded. "I understand. Tournament Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!" There was some more applause. "Now, I have to help get the competitors to the infirmary!"

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A couple of hours later, Kazan walked out of the Academy. It had taken a couple of soldier pills and a few hours of sleep to get him back up to usual strength. As he exited, he was stopped by Naruto. Kazan skidded to a halt, and waited for the blonde to rub his victory in. To his surprise, he said "Good match. Want to talk for a minute?"

Kazan blinked rapidly for a few seconds, then said "Sure."

"How could you summon more then one type of creature? I thought you could only summon one per ninja!" Naruto inquired. Kazan grinned.

"Everyone can summon more then one creature. They just need to have the appropriate contracts, and negotiate with the bosses to work with each other. The falcon and the wolf were always on good terms, so I didn't have to do much persuading. Next time, I'm going to have my work cut out for me."

Naruto started. "Next time?"

"Yeah." Kazan said. "It's my dream to sign all ten contracts, and be able to summon all ten kinds of creatures. Unfortunately, my father only had the Falcon Contract. I had to go through ten kinds of hell to be able to have the guardian of the Wolf Contract let me sign it. And I have no idea where the guardians for the other eight are!"

Naruto grinned. "Don't worry! I'm sure you'll find them!"

Kazan smiled in return. "Thanks!"

"Where'd the sword styles come from? I've never seen them before!"

Kazan blushed red in embarrassment. "A long time ago, my ancestors watched the animals that they summoned, and designed sword styles to compliment the animal's abilities. So they would never be lost, they gave a copy of each style to the correct animal, and the animals gave them to me!"

"Cool!"

Naruto decided to ask a different type of question. "Hey, do you want to hang out some time? Spar a little, watch TV, that sorta thing?"

Kazan was taken aback. No one had ever asked anything like that of him before! "S-Sure!" he stammered out.

Naruto gave his trademark foxy grin. "Great! Well, I'll catch you later, Kazan!" And he took off.

Kazan grinned. He really wondered why his dad hated Naruto so much. There really wasn't any reason.

As he entered his house, his dad met him at the door. "I understand that you lost to Uzumaki Naruto." Kazan nodded.

"Well in that case, you can pack up and get out of my house!" his father screamed.

Kazan blinked and stammered "W-What!"

"You failed your chance to avenge your mother, and you are a disgrace to the Koutetsu name! Now pack up and get out!"

Kazan stared his father straight in the eye coldly, even though on the inside, it felt like his heart was splitting. "I really don't see why you hate Naruto, but if you hate him enough to send your son out, then so be it. I'll be gone in five minutes."

Five minutes later, Kazan was staggering back down the road, trying his best to see through tears. In his hands was a small suitcase, which held all he owned. His father had yelled that he was a disgrace once more before he left. He hadn't actually thought his father would go through with it! But he had sent Kazan, his own son, from his home because he had failed to kill someone.

Kazan staggered up to the Hokage tower, the only place he knew where to go. He knocked on the door of the Hokage's office, and pushed it open. Sarutobi was there, finishing up his paper work. "Ah, young Kazan-kun! What are you-" Sarutobi caught sight of Kazan's tear streaked face. "What's wrong Kazan-kun?"

In between sobs, Kazan managed to utter his story to the Hokage, who had always been like a grandfather to him. At the end of his tale, Sarutobi's usual kind face was hard as a rock. "I will have a word with your father, and I'm sure he will-" He was cut off by Kazan raising a hand.

"I don't want to go back there, Hokage-sama. It just wouldn't be the same, me being home only because my father was forced into it."

Sarutobi could see the boy's point. "Ok, Kazan-kun. I will tell you what you can do. Sleep here tonight, and in the morning, I'll have found you a place to stay."

Kazan's face lit up somewhat. "Thank you Hokage-sama. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Sarutobi chuckled. "No, but I do have a gift for you. I understand that you want to be able to summon all ten clans of animals, correct?" Kazan nodded. "Well I have the Ape Contract, and I'll allow you to sign it!" Kazan's whole face lit up. He was one step closer to his dream.

The next morning, Naruto and Sasuke were called to the Hokage's office. They looked from the Hokage to Kazan, wondering what was going on here. "Boys," the Hokage said. "I'd like to ask you if it was ok if Kazan here stay with you. He is having family issues, and there is no place else he can go."

Sasuke nodded. "I have no objections." He said, even though on the inside, he was thinking 'What am I? A Hotel?' "How about you?" he asked Naruto.

Naruto shook his head. "None." He walked over to Kazan, and clapped him on the back. "Now we can hang out all the time!" Kazan smiled shakily.

As they entered the Uchiha compound, Sasuke said, "Take any door that isn't marked with a clan symbol." Kazan looked around. There were five rooms taken. There was one with a spiral on it, one with a fan, one with a golden eye, one with a marionette controller, and one with a fan with a rose on it. He picked the one next to Sasuke's.

'I'm finally home, at least for a little while.' He thought.

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The next day was a Saturday, so there was no academy. Gaara, Kazan, Naruto and Sasuke were out sparring, and doing a pretty good job of annihilating the field. Unsurprisingly, Kazan was the first one eliminated, and went to sit in some shade. After he plopped himself down, he heard soft sobs. Curious, Kazan began looking for the source.

Surprisingly, the source was a pink-haired Kunoichi crying under a tree. Kazan walked up to her and asked "What's wrong?"

Sakura looked up at him. "Yesterday, at the tournament, I was knocked out in less then two seconds! Hinata didn't even break a sweat when fighting me! I'm not cut out to be a ninja! I'm not!"

Kazan looked down at her. "No, Sakura, you were cut out to be a great ninja. You just need to find your strengths. All you have now is the basic training that the academy does. You have to find your own power, like me with summoning, Temari with wind or Naruto with snort dirt."

"My own… power?" she asked. "How would I get that? Almost everyone else learns from their clans!"

"Find what you do best, and improve upon it."

"BUT I DON'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!"

Kazan snorted, as if he found her anguished outburst the funniest thing in the world. "That's a good one!" he said as he started laughing

Sakura looked at him in confusion, then chuckled herself. Pretty soon, she was laughing along with him. After they were done, she turned to him and said "I'm just being overdramatic, aren't I." Kazan nodded. "Then I'd better figure out what I can do right."

Kazan grinned. "Good luck." Sakura turned got up and wiped her eyes. She turned to walk away, but then, surprising both herself and Kazan, turned and gave him a tight hug.

"Thank you." She murmured, then turned and ran away.

Kazan smiled, then called after her. "Anytime!"  
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A/N: And that was chapter 3 again! I made some improvements, and some modifications. R&R!


	4. Tag Team Tournament

A/N: In case you didn't know, this is one of my older works that I've been reworking alot of, mostly Kazan. It will be primarily the same, and updates will be sporadic as I'm still focusing on All for One most of all. So, here goes nothing!

* * *

The usual scene was going on at the training grounds. Naruto and Sasuke were sparring, destroying the field around them with earth and fire. Gaara was practicing improving the speed of his sand, with Kankurou launching daggers at him. Temari was practicing the Taijutsu associated with her fan, sparring with a chimp that Kazan had summoned. And Kazan himself, he was in the middle of some very interesting negotiations. 

In front of him sat three boss summons. There was Fenrir, lord of the wolves, in all his silvery glory. Then there was Riobuto, king of all falcon summons. Finally, there was Enma, the boss of the apes. Kazan was negotiating with them to allow him to summon all three of their minions, and if necessary, the bosses themselves.

"Let me get this straight," the monkey king Enma said. "You want me to agree to side with the wolves and the falcons if you need me to, Correct?" Kazan nodded.

"Well, I have no disputes with the wolves and falcons, so I'll agree to this. But you must still pass my test."

Kazan hadn't expected anything different. "Very well, Enma-sama. What will you have me do?"

Enma looked at him, then turned into a giant pole, which extended so it was taller then the highest tree. Somehow, Enma had managed to make it so it was embedded in the ground, pointing straight up. The pole spoke. "Climb me to the top. After you do that, any ape will come to your call, and side with the wolves and falcons."

Kazan shrugged. For Riobuto, he had had to master **Kaze Ryou **(wind charge) to get him to come. Fenrir had been worse. He had had to survive in a cold dark forest alone for a week, surrounded by wolves, to get his summoning rights. Compared to that, climbing a fifty foot pole was easy. Kazan focused all his chakra on the soles of his feet, and began to climb.

He got up about thirty feet before he started losing control. Quickly, Kazan changed his focus to his hands and used them to climb up. When he reached the top, Enma said, "Very good. But I'm afraid you now have a dilemma. You're almost out of Chakra, so you can't climb back down. So how are you going to get down?"

Kazan thought hard for a moment, then shrugged. "**Kaze Ryou!"** he cried, and jumped off of Enma. He used the air currents to direct him over the field where his friends were training before he ran out of chakra. Anymore, and he would probably die from depletion. So Kazan began to plummet to the ground. "Uh, HELP!" he screamed.

Gaara was the fastest to react, creating a cushion of sand which Kazan plummeted onto. He got off, staggering a little. "Uh, thanks. My, what pretty colors!" Then down he went.

The Bosses ran over, laughing a little. "Good job!" Enma said. "Most people just fall off and hope for the best. Well, you can summon any ape you choose now. Oh, and here's another style. Learn it." He tossed Kazan, who had sat up, a scroll, then disappeared. The same happened to Fenrir and Riobuto.

Naruto grabbed the scroll out of Kazan's hands, and read the title. "Style of the Smashing Ape?"

Kazan grabbed the scroll back. "Yeah. Each summon gives me one of these, a Kenjutsu style. Each focuses on something different. Style of the Slashing Falcon uses high jumps and downwards slashes. Style of the Howling Wolf relies on low-to-the-ground attack, and lots of dodging." He unrolled the new scroll. "This one seems to focus on striking the arms so the opponent can't hurt you."

Sasuke nodded. "Sounds useful. But why do they have the scrolls to begin with?"

Kazan got on the serious face he always used when explaining something about summons. "When they were first called to this world, they were called by members of a powerful sword-weilding clan. The clan was dying, but used the summons as inspiration to create kenjutsu styles based on how the animals move and attack. Then they gave each summon a copy of the one based on them, and told them to give it to those who were worthy."

Naruto's superhuman hearing picked something up from a mile away. "Aw shit! We're late!" Without waiting to hear anything else, the six of them bounded into the trees toward the source of the bell that had just rung, the signal that anyone not at the academy was late.

* * *

Five minutes later, they arrived at the academy. They went in the front door, and were greeted by the hall monitor, a chunnin level kunoichi who was usually bored out of her mind because she had nothing else to do then yell at little kids. She frowned down at the six of them. "You're late." 

Sasuke sent a hand signal out, which his friends understood. They had developed their own little hand code that no one else could break. Or at least, no one they knew about. Sasuke signed "I'll handle this."

Sasuke looked up at the Kunoichi, and did something he hated to do: He smiled. The kunoichi fainted, as almost no female in the village was immune to the smile of the Uchiha prodigy. The six quickly ran to class, and managed to get into their seats before Iruka noticed that they hadn't been there before.

Once Iruka had finished taking attendance, he had an extremely special announcement to make. "I have something to tell you that you all are going to like: the Gennin Exams for this class are next week!" Like most of Iruka's announcements, this one was met with copious cheers and applause.

They listened to theory for the rest of the day, and lots of history. That was everything they covered that day, so everyone had plenty of time to sleep to replenish their Chakra. Soon after the last one (Sasuke) woke up, the bell rang, letting them get out of the prison of words.

Naruto was shivering. "I hate written tests! I bet the gennin exams are going to have a written test! I'll be a cadet forever!"

Sasuke chuckled over his friend's nervousness. "You know what you need now? A good spar!" Naruto instantly broke out of his depressed reverie and nodded enthusiastically.

Once again, the group met up at their usual training grounds. But to their surprise, people were already there, waiting for them. Ino stepped forward, slightly in front of Sakura and Hinata. "Mind if we join you today?"

Slightly stunned, Sasuke said "Go ahead. We don't care."

They paired off, as was their usual practice, except for Kankurou. He sat off to the side, tinkering with Karasu. Naruto was sparring with Temari, Hinata and Sasuke were engaged in close combat, Ino and Gaara were fighting, and Sakura was throwing Kunai at Kazan.

Naruto and Temari were a good match. They had both studied each other's fighting styles in detail, so knew what to expect. Every Kamaitatchi from Temari's fan was met by a clay shield, and every giant boulder was blown away by a small cyclone. Both stopped their match at the same time, eyeing each other with something very close to admiration. Without a word, Temari plopped down under a tree. Naruto joined her, and she took the chance and rested her head on his shoulder. He was surprised by the contact, but accepted it without question.

Sasuke was panting heavily. 'Since when could Hinata keep up with me?' he was asking himself. But the two were engaged in a fierce taijutsu battle, with Sasuke's generic style against Hinata's gentle fist style. The two were going back and forth without pause, until at last, Sasuke's greater endurance won out. Hinata collapsed onto her knees, panting. Sasuke skidded to a halt, also panting.

As usual, Gaara was dominating his sparring match. Ino was dodging sand attacks and throwing kunai and shuriken at Gaara, but the sand intercepted everything. Soon, Ino was exhausted, and Gaara hadn't even moved yet.

Kazan and Sakura were fighting a slow hand to hand battle. Kazan really didn't want to draw his katana, as that might kill Sakura. For the same reason, he didn't want to summon anything. On Sakura's part, she really didn't have any special tricks. So they just went back and forth for a little while, then decided that since they weren't doing anything interesting, they should probably stop.

Kankurou, watching all the sparring matches from the sidelines, decided that this might be a good way to get everyone to get stronger for the Gennin Exams. He was able to pass anytime he wanted to, as were the male part of the team and Temari, but Hinata suffered from lack of confidence, Ino really needed work, and Sakura really REALLY needed work. Besides, it would be a good way to keep from being bored. He stood up. "Ok! Everyone come here! I just had a good idea!"

The other eight people gathered round the Puppet Master. "What's going to happen is for three days, you are each going to train each other!" That was his polite way of saying 'Most of you are hopeless, so the really good ones are going to help you out.' "Then, in three days, we are going to have a team tournament! The teams will be Sasuke and Hinata, Naruto and Temari, Gaara and Ino, and Kazan and Sakura."

The eight of them looked at each other, then Naruto spoke for all of them. "Why should we listen to you?"

"You saying you guys aren't up to it?"

"NO! We'll do it! And we'll win, right Temari-chan?"

Temari blinked at suddenly being included. "Yeah!"

The teams split up, with Kankuro remaining there. To himself, he said "Boy, I am good!" He pulled out a small orange book, and started looking in it. Within seconds, he was bleeding profusely from his nose.

* * *

Naruto and Temari went off to one of the other training grounds. "Well," Naruto said. "We already know each other's styles pretty well. So what we need to do is learn from each other. Right?" 

Temari nodded. "Correct. So, the first thing I want to know is how to do **Touji Tate no Jutsu **(Clay Shield Technique). It should be handy in defense."

"Okay." Naruto said. "But then we gotta work on team methods. I can think of quite a few ways that we can work together."

* * *

Sasuke and Hinata elected to go to the Uchiha compound. "Well, from what I can tell," Sasuke said. "Your strengths are close combat, and your weaknesses are lack of confidence and lack of long range jutsus. We'll have to work on that." 

Hinata nodded enthusiastically, or as enthusiastically as she could. It was more like an incline of the head.

Sasuke sighed. "Confidence first."

* * *

Ino and Gaara just sat at a classroom in the Academy. They just stared at each other for a little while, when Gaara finally broke the silence. "Well, what do you need help in?" 

Ino thought for a moment. "Well, I need better Jutsus. I know you can't teach me how to control sand like you do, but maybe you can help me get some scrolls out of the Gennin library. I mean, I get stopped all the time, but if you said you wanted them, they'd probably get you whatever you wanted."

Gaara sat there, thinking. Then a creepy smile crossed his face. "I can do that."

* * *

Kazan and Sakura sat in a small forest clearing. "So, Sakura, have you found what you're good at yet?" Sakura shook her head. Kazan thought for a minute. "Ok, I've got an idea on how you can find out. List what you like to do." 

Sakura wondered how that could help, but Kazan was the boss. "I like chasing Naruto or Sasuke, whoever's closest, growing flowers, solving puzzles, and watching old romance movies on TV."

Kazan thought for a moment. "The boy chasing and old movie watching aside, I think we can work with this."

* * *

In the three day limit, each team focused on something different. Naruto and Temari focused on the most effective way to combine their talents. Sasuke spent the first day boosting Hinata's ego, and the other two teaching her some fire jutsus. Gaara spent a little time using sand to snatch likely looking scrolls from assorted libraries, then used the rest of the time to increase his sand speed while Ino read and practiced from the scrolls. And Kazan helped Sakura turn her interests into effective combat talents, while practicing the Style of the Smashing Ape. And Kankurou, he just sat around, tinkering with Karasu and reading Icha Icha Paradise. 

After the three day limit, all nine of them met up again. Kankurou would be referee, as he was the only one not participating. They flipped coins to determine the matches. The line up would be Naruto and Temari versus Sasuke and Hinata, with Gaara and Ino versus Sakura and Kazen.

The first match got started quickly. Sasuke yelled out "**Katon: Hinotama no Jutsu! **(Fire style: Fireball technique)" The small fireball was followed up with another, and then a couple more, as Naruto and Temari dodged it.

Hinata smiled. Three days with Sasuke had done wonders to her confidence, as she had picked up things no Hyuuga had ever known before. She nodded to Sasuke, and they both went through the same seals. "**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! **(Fire Style: Powerful flame technique)" they yelled in unison, firing off identical fireballs.

Naruto and Temari stood back to back. "Ready?" Naruto asked. Temari smirked and nodded. Also in unison, they made the same seals and yelled "**Touji Tate no Jutsu! **(Clay Shield Technique)" Identical shields rose out of the ground, forming a dome of clay. The fireballs died out, leaving very dry clay.

"Let's do it, Temari!" Naruto yelled. "**Doton: Nibai Maruishi Meiun no Jutsu! **(Earth Style: Double Boulder Doom Technique). As he yelled that, he jumped. When he landed, a pair of huge boulders sprung out of the ground and rolled toward Sasuke and Hinata. They easily dodged.

"Is that all you've got, Naruto?" Sasuke taunted.

"Nah." He answered. "I was just setting the field." Behind him, Temari aimed her fan at the two holes.

"**Ninpo: Kamaitatchi! **(Ninja Arts: Slashing Wind)" she cried, and the wind roared out into the two holes that Naruto's last technique. A steady stream of dust came out, and enveloped the entire field.

Before Sasuke and Hinata got a chance to wonder what the heck good dust was, Naruto answered that question. "**Koudo Bakko! **(Earth Domination)" The dust solidified into two huge rock prisons around Sasuke and Hinata. "Do you give?" he asked.

Sasuke and Hinata looked at each other. Try as they could, they simply couldn't get out of the prison Naruto crafted for them. But before they could say it, Kankurou saved them the trouble and humiliation. "Hinata and Sasuke are unable to continue! The winners are Naruto and Temari!" The four sitting on the sidelines clapped, and the losers would have applauded as well if they could have moved their hands.

Naruto hastily dissolved the prison, then sent the dust back into the holes. He moved the boulders he had created back into their original spots, leaving the entire sparring field almost exactly the way it had been before. Naruto then went over to the tree where Sasuke, Hinata and Temari were already sitting. "Good match." He said as he sat down and put his arm around Temari's shoulders. She leaned into him, and rested her head on one of his nice (from her perspective) shoulders.

Gaara observed this with an expressionless face. So Naruto and his sister were getting that close, were they? Gaara made a mental note to have an extremely long talk with Naruto after this tournament. But for now, he had enough on his plate. He looked across the field at Kazan and Sakura. The girl was carrying herself with more confidence, as if she knew something they didn't.

Kankuro announced the start. "Kazan and Sakura versus Gaara and Ino! HAJIME!"

Kazan was the first into action. He drew his katana and charged at Gaara. "Kenjutsu: Style of the Howling Wolf!" His katana was met by sand, and he spun and went for the head. But that slash was also met by sand.

Off to the side of that fight, Sakura and Ino were engaged in vicious hand to hand combat. Ino jumped back and yelled "**Dendou Bu-Mu! **(Electric Boom)". A ball of electricity appeared in her hand, which she threw at Sakura, who barely dodged. Noticing the shocked look on Sakura's face, Ino decided to elaborate. "I like electricity, ok?!"

Sakura grinned. Ino using electricity wasn't in the plan, but it would work perfectly. Sakura reached into a small quiver she had placed on her back and withdrew something no one expected:

A rose. A pretty, red rose.

Sakura sniffed it, inhaling it's fragrant scent. She then heard Ino begin laughing. "Don't laugh unless you know what it's capable of!" she yelled. She pointed the rose at Ino and began treating it with her chakra. "**Bara Kei! **(Rose Whip)" she cried, and the rose extended into a long whip covered in thorns. Ino had just enough time to stop laughing before the whip entangled her. Surprisingly, the thorns didn't scratch her.

Sakura pulled her in. "The only reason you're not bleeding from about eighty wounds is because I've pulled in the thorns, leaving a genjutsu in their place. If you want, I can extend them." Sakura looked over at her partner, and saw Kazan was slowly being worn down by Gaara's sand. "Hey Gaara! Unless you want Ino missing a couple of pieces of skin, I suggest you give up!"

Gaara looked over, and saw that Sakura had beaten Ino. This wouldn't have happened if Ino had listened to him. He had specifically told her not to underestimate the opponent, but she simply wouldn't listen! He could win still, but that would cause Ino considerable pain. If that hadn't bothered him enough, he knew that by himself, he wouldn't be able to beat Temari and Naruto. "I surrender." Gaara said.

Kankurou was blinking rapidly for a couple minutes, and forgot his duty until Naruto kicked him. "Sabaku no Gaara has surrendered! As Yamanaka Ino is unable to fight, the winners are Sakura and Kazan!" More mild applause.

Kazan sat back down, breathing heavily. He hadn't used any chakra at all, but his stamina was still used up. "I request," he panted out. "A twenty minute break."

Kankurou thought for minute. "I agree. Twenty minute break!" Kazan went down to rest, while Sakura sat down next to him for the moment. Ino went to apologize to Sakura for laughing at her flower (while praying she'd never be wrapped up in it again), while Gaara dragged Naruto off into the forest for a 'frank conversation about your future'. Temari looked the way they went with mild concern and amusement, while Hinata looked over at Sasuke.

"Gomen, Sasuke." Hinata said. Three days had gotten over the worst of her stammering, but she still had below-average confidence. "If I was a little stronger, I could have-"

Sasuke cut her off. "Done nothing Hinata. It was neither of our faults. We just didn't practice teamwork as much as Naruto and Temari. We'll work on that in the future, okay?"

Hinata nodded. That would mean that they would be working together more, practicing together more often! It was one of the best moments in Hinata's life when she realized that she had friends, friends like Sasuke, who would work to help her become stronger.

Twenty minutes later, everyone was ready for the last match. Naruto was back from his talk with Gaara, but he was quite a few shades paler. Kazan was recovered, his brief rest enough to get back a good part of his stamina. Sakura had picked some fresh flowers and had pre-treated them with her Chakra. And Temari was just doing some regular stretches to prepare.

"Sabaku no Temari and Uzumaki Naruto against Koutetsu Kazan and Haruno Sakura!" Kankuro cried. "HAJIME!"

Once again, Kazan was the first to move. He drew his katana and yelled "**Kaze Ryou! **(Wind Charge)" He blasted into the air. As he floated, he called down to Sakura "Try to immobilize them!" Sakura nodded.

Temari looked at the airborne cadet for a minute, then smirked. "You're surrounded by air. That's my element! **Ninpo: Kamaitatchi! **(Ninja Arts: Slashing Wind)" The cyclone narrowly missed Kazan, but it disrupted his air control. Temari watched with a satisfied look on her face as he plummeted toward the ground, but then noticed she was having problems moving! She looked down, and saw vines and creepers climbing her legs.

Naruto knew who was behind the vines, and charged at Sakura, using **Koudo Bakko **(Earth Domination) to shape a giant fist of rock around his arm. Sakura went flying, only to be caught by Kazan, who had regained control of his air currents and blew behind Sakura. Putting her down, Kazan flew back up into the air. As he went up, he punctured his right thumb, index finger and middle finger with his canine tooth. He focused all the Chakra he could into his right hand, then came soaring back into the ground. 'This'll hurt you more then it'll hurt me!' he thought. 'Well, I think!'

"**Kuchyose no Jutsu! **(summoning technique)" he cried. A huge cloud of smoke enveloped him. When it dissipated, an enormous silver wolf, a man sized falcon and an ape the size of a sapling stood around Kazan. Simultaneously, all three knelt (or in the falcon's case, inclined its head.).

"What do you require, Kazan-sama?" they all asked.

Kazan shook his head, trying to clear it. That last summoning had used way too much power, and he didn't have a lot left to use. 'I think I got a few minutes before I collapse.' He thought. But that's not all he had thought. During his airborne summoning, he had come up with a battle plan. "Tobia-kun, go assist my teammate in anything she requires." The falcon flew off toward Sakura. "Gojo-kun, attack the fan user." The giant ape rushed toward Temari. "Byath-kun, with me toward the rock guy." The wolf nodded, and Kazan drew his katana. "Kenjutsu: Style of the Howling Wolf!" He yelled as he charged.

Naruto looked on as the three summons rushed to their assigned targets, as Kazan charged him. Temari could hold her own for a little while. Her fan, while closed, was an excellent staff, and could hold of Sakura's flowers. But if the falcon joined her, and the ape was already attacking her, she would be in trouble. Unfortunately, he had his own problems to deal with. Kazan and the wolf were charging him, which made for quite a full plate.

Temari extended her fan more. Sakura's vines had lost their chakra enhancements when she went flying, becoming ordinary vines that the sand kunoichi was easily able to break. Sakura was charging directly at her, a falcon flying right behind her. A small, sadistic smile grew on Temari's face as she withdrew her fan, preparing for her strongest fan attack. "**Ninpo: Saikou Kamaitatchi! **(Ninja arts: Supreme Slashing Wind)" A cyclone far stronger then any she had ever used before blew out, smashing Sakura and the Falcon into- and through- a tree. The falcon dissipated, and Sakura slumped down into unconsciousness.

But as Temari celebrated her victory, a strong fist clubbed her head, knocking her down. "Sleep tight." she heard, in a deep, mellow voice. Hairy feet padded away from her as she slipped into temporary oblivion.

Kazan watched as their partners went down. It was up to him now, but at least he still had help. Byath lunged at Naruto, making him dodge to the left. Gojo, just returning from disabling Temari, hit him in the stomach, which he barely packed enough chakra there to absorb the blow. Kazan yelled "**Kaze Ryou!**" and jumped into the sky. "Kenjutsu: Style of the Slashing Falcon!"

Naruto looked around in a small panic. The ape was attacking his one side, and the wolf was on his other, and Kazan was about to try to take his head off! 'Temari should be there to help soon!' he thought. But his hopes for help were dashed by a chance look behind him, where he saw Temari sprawled, unconscious. But from the angle which he saw her, she looked dead.

Inside Naruto, thinking that Temari might be dead, something snapped. A dark voice from inside of him spoke up for the first time. "**_So she means a lot to you, Kit. Avenge her._**"

Power flooded Naruto's body, lashing out from behind him in a chakra storm. His whiskers expanded, becoming bigger and more pronounced. His eyes, once the purest and most intense blue, became red, and the pupils became slits. The pure power of his chakra dissolved the links holding the summons to this plane, and sent them back to their home world.

Kazan saw this and gasped. There was no way he could do anything to this manifestation of power! He tried frantically to abort his attack, but he didn't have enough energy to summon a countering wind! A tail of chakra lashed out, and caught him in mid air, sending him hurtling back to the sky. He landed hard, barely avoiding landing on his sword. Kazan closed his eyes, and waited for death. When it didn't come, he cracked an eye open, then began to panic.

Naruto had gone berserk. He was destroying any and everything in his path! That included trees, dirt, and humans. Fortunately, the bystanders had seen what was happening and had moved. Unfortunately, Naruto was headed for one person that couldn't move: Sakura, still unconscious from Temari's wind attack.

Inside Naruto's head, his brain was only processing a couple thoughts. 'Destroy! Annihilate! Kill!' And it was time to fulfill one of those urges: kill! There was a defenseless girl in front of him, still unconscious. She would never wake again!

Suddenly, a small blur crossed his field of vision, and another human was standing between him and his prey. Kazan was panting from having moved at that speed, something he had never done before. "Don't touch her!" he screamed, knowing that Naruto couldn't hear him but knowing he had to say something.

A small squeak from behind him made him look back. Sakura had regained consciousness just in time to hear Kazan's last words. Kazan looked back at her. "Sakura, you should probably move." Those were the last words he got to speak before Naruto/Kyuubi struck.

Kyuubi's chakra stabbed out, puncturing deep holes all over Kazan. Then Naruto struck, slashing and gouging everywhere. Kazan went flying back, bleeding from wounds all over his body. As Naruto was about to deliver the final blow to the boy, he felt something grabbing on to his back.

He looked around to see Temari, woken up, on his back. She was crying, and her hysterical voice cried out. "Naruto! I'm okay, just don't kill him!"

Somehow, her voice penetrated the shroud of madness that Kyuubi had left on Naruto, and reached into the boy. His whiskers shrank, and his eyes reverted back to normal. "T-Temari-chan?" he uttered. Then he fell over.

Sakura crawled over to Kazan, and was futilely trying to stop his bleeding. "Help!" she screamed. "We need help!" Temari began trying to wake Naruto up, and when he wouldn't move, added her cries to Sakura's.

* * *

Sarutobi sat up in alarm. He recognized that chakra signature, and he knew what it meant. Kyuubi had awoken inside Naruto. He only hoped that no one had been injured too badly.

In rice country, a snake-like man yelled in surprise. "Kukukuku. The fox brat has awoken the demon's power. It looks like I'll be going home sooner then I had planned."

* * *

Far away, somewhere in the country of stone, in a secret underground base, a shadow shrouded figure raised its head. It spoke three words that set off a chain reaction among its six subordinates. "It has awoken."

* * *

Outside the gates of Konoha, a bandage-swathed man stopped dead in his tracks, along with a small boy. "Well, Haku." He said. "It looks like our new home is full of interesting characters!"

Haku nodded. "Indeed!"


	5. Hospital

A/N: Well, here's the repost of Brothers in Misery, Chapter Five. I hope it's somewhat enjoyable for you all.

* * *

It was a busy day at the hospital. First, a team of Jounin had returned from an A-class mission badly injured. Then, the Chuunin Exams had finished today, leaving the usual crop of brutally injured Gennin. And to top it all off, a team of newly-promoted gennin had gotten explosive notes, which usually weren't issued to Gennin, and had promptly set them off by accident.

The nurse checked off cases that had been dealt with. But as she sighed in relief as the last ones were taken care of, the emergency door opened, and seven teenagers carrying two more were rushed in. "EMERGENCY!" the one in front yelled.

Immediately, two stretchers were rushed up, and doctors and nurses converged on the site. The two were quickly placed on the stretchers and hooked up to devices on wheels. The head nurse began yelling out their conditions. "Patient number one: Extreme chakra depletion! Internal organs failing! Needs immediate chakra transfusion! Patient number two: Multiple stab wounds! Losing blood quickly! Some organs punctured! Prepare for surgery!"

Naruto and Kazan were rushed to the emergency room. The other seven cadets sat in the waiting room, all thinking the same thoughts. There was concern for their friends/adopted siblings/objects of affection. There was shock at what had happened to Kazan, and they all wondered how it was possible to have that much blood. But one thought was going through all of their heads constantly: 'What the hell just happened to Naruto?'

Temari and Sakura really had no idea what had happened. They had both been knocked unconscious during the fight, and Sakura had regained consciousness just in time see Naruto looming over her, and Kazan jump in front of him. Temari had awoken just in time to see a menacing Naruto preparing to kill a bloodied Kazan. She had done the only thing she could, and had tried to stop him.

Sasuke felt a deep shame burning in his gut. He had seen Naruto's transformation, but had thought his friend was only using some cool new jutsu. When he had realized differently, his first thought had been to get away. He had completely forgotten about Sakura, and had evacuated the area until that Chakra Signature had died down. When it had, Sasuke had edged slowly back towards the clearing. Only when he heard the cries for help had he remembered the girls. 'If I hadn't been so afraid, if I hadn't panicked, maybe this wouldn't have happened!'

Gaara, out of all of them, knew what had happened. He had had something similar happen to him. Gaara remembered vividly when Shukaku's power had come to him. 'So he is another one. I never would have guessed.'

Kankurou was preparing to throw up. He had never seen so much blood coming out of a living body. Sure, he had seen the aftermath of Gaara's victims, but they had always been dead. Kazan had still been alive; gasping shallowly for air as blood came pouring out of his deep wounds. Kankurou barely remembered the trip to the hospital. He had just wrapped Kazan up in his chakra strings to staunch the blood flow, and ran as fast as possible.

Ino and Hinata were in the same confused state. All they knew is that they had felt pure malevolence pour out of Naruto, scaring them as they'd never been scared before. Hinata was still shivering, and Ino was staring blankly into space.

Like Gaara, Temari knew what had happened to her bright, happy boyfriend. She had been there when Gaara had unlocked Shukaku's power, and the only thing that stopped him from destroying a few hundred lives had been the intervention Yashamaru, their uncle. Temari had taken the chance that she was important enough to Naruto to stop him, and she had been. Even as shock raged within her, a small part of her was filled with joy. 'He cares about me. He really cares about me!'

Sakura was panicking, only unlike most of her friends, it was not over Naruto. It was over Kazan. 'It's my fault this happened! I needed to be stronger! If I had been stronger, beaten Temari, and not gotten knocked out, he wouldn't have tried to protect me! I wasn't strong enough!'

A doctor came rushing out. "Are you the friends of the boys that were just brought in?" There were seven simultaneous nods. "Since neither of the two have any family that-" Here the doctor stopped, and grimaced. "Want to see them; I'll have to tell you their conditions." The seven of them held their breath.

"The first one, the blonde one, had an extreme case of chakra depletion. Somehow, an alternate force of chakra entered his system, and burned all of his regular chakra out. It then replaced his normal chakra, allowing him to function normally for a brief time. Then, the alternate source stopped giving him chakra, causing the depletion." Everyone starred at him with a look that said 'Tell us his condition or die!' The doctor made a calming gesture with his hands. "We managed to get him a successful transfusion in time, and he's currently unconscious, but out of the danger zone." A sigh of relief from all seven echoed throughout the room.

"As for your other friend," They all stiffened up again. "His condition is much more serious. He suffered numerous stab wounds, as well as many gouges and slashes. He lost a lot of blood, and if it weren't for the chakra strings he'd been wrapped in, he would have died before he got here. Some organs were punctured, but we were able to operate and heal him successfully. We've patched him up as best as we can, and he had just enough blood to survive without a transfusion, but if he wakes up, he will be very weak for a while."

Everyone breathed another deep sigh of relief before Sakura realized everything the doctor had just said. "If he wakes up? What do you mean, if?"

They all tensed up again as the doctor answered. "One of his wounds went through the back of his neck, and severed all but a tiny fragment of his brainstem. There is about a nineteen in twenty chance of him being brain dead."

With this startling announcement, the doctor left them. Sasuke was staring blankly at the floor a minute, and then shook his head to clear it. "Well, we should split up. Ino, Hinata, Sakura, you should probably get home. Your parents will be worried sick for you. The rest of us should decide whose bed to wait by. When you wake up in the hospital, it's terrible to be alone."

"But the doctor said that Kazan-" Kankurou stammered out.

"They WILL both wake up, and we WILL be there to greet them." Sasuke stated flatly. After a quick discussion, it was decided that Sasuke, Gaara and Temari would wait by Naruto, while Kankuro stood a solitary vigil over Kazan.

Watching this, Sakura made a decision. "Ino, could you stop by my house and tell my mom that I'm watching over a friend at the hospital tonight?" Startled, the blonde didn't do anything for a moment before nodding.

* * *

Kankurou sat, watching the boy he was sure would never wake. He was the only one watching Kazan, the others sitting by Naruto's bedside. Kankuro prepared himself for a long, boring, solitary vigil. But then, someone sat down next to him. With a start, he looked over and saw Sakura. She looked at Kankuro, and answered his unspoken question.

"My parents know I'm here, and even if they aren't ok with it, I'm staying."

Kankurou nodded, but then another question came into his head. "Aren't you one of Naruto's fan girls? Why aren't you with him?"

Sakura said simply "Kazan needs me here. Naruto doesn't, and he will never, need me anywhere."

The puppeteer agreed.

* * *

Inside Naruto's room, three anxious people were sitting next to the bed. Well, Temari was anxious. Sasuke and Gaara's concern was only visible through their eyes.

But inside Naruto's head, it was much more crowded. He woke up in a dark place where pipes dripped, in front of a huge cage. A monstrous red eye stared at him from it's confines.

"**_Well brat, looks like I overdid it._**"

Naruto blinked rapidly. There was a big monster… behind bars… talking to him… nicely. "Uh, Mr. Monster? What are you, and where are we?"

The monster sighed. "**_Ok. I am Kyuubi no Kitsune, and we are inside your mind._**"

A few seconds later, those words sank in. "AAAHHHHH!! WHY IS THE NINE-TAILED FOX IN MY HEAD?!"

Kyuubi sighed. He'd been expecting that, but that didn't make it any easier to listen to. "**_Well, I'm going to tell you a story about that, ok?_**" Naruto nodded frantically.

"**_Well, about… how old are you?_**"

"Fourteen."

"**_About fifteen years ago, I was a simple fox demon, living in a cave, letting the locals fear me and give me the occasional cattle. Then, I was humbly minding my own business when this really weird guy came into my cave._**"

"What did he look like?"

"**_Well, he was medium height with black hair, red eyes, and a cool cloak with red clouds on it. But he was one of the most annoying pricks I've ever met, and that includes you. Well, anyway, said prick was going off in some long extended rant of how he was going to use my power to take over the world._**"

"Oh. Why can't these mad psychopaths try to think up some more original goal?"

"**_Beats me, Kit. Well, I didn't like that, so I decided to try and kill him. But he evaded my attacks, and managed to escape. But he dropped a forehead protector with the leaf symbol on it. So, I thought the leaf sent him and decided to annihilate them._**"

"Jump to conclusions much?"

"**_I wasn't thinking clearly at the time, ok? Well, the Fourth Hokage decided he didn't like me trying to destroy his village. So he tried to seal me into a rock. But the rock broke. No mere rock can hold me!_**"

"Before you go off into a rant on how great you are, can you finish your story?"

"**_sigh ok. Well, the Fourth figured out that I couldn't be put into a rock. So he went to the most powerful alternative he had: A newborn child, who just happens to be you. He managed to seal me into you, and then he died. Pity. He was one of the strongest humans I've ever known._**"

"Ok. I get how you ended up inside me. But what exactly happened at the training field?"

"**_Well, you see, I sorta overreacted. I can lend you power when you're feeling an exceptionally strong emotion like anger or despair. So when you were shocked when you thought your mate was dead, I kicked in and sent you a wave of my power. But I sent way too much, and it overloaded you._**"

"Ah. Wait a sec… Temari-chan is NOT my mate!"

Kyuubi chuckled. "**_Sure she isn't. And I'm also a three tailed puppy!_**"

Naruto sighed. He hadn't known Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox, apparently the incarnation of all evil was- friendly and told stupid jokes. "Can I go home now."

"**_Knock yourself out. Wait a second… you already ARE knocked out!_**" Kyuubi exclaimed, along with a large burst of laughter. "**_We're going to be talking for a while. Or, you could imagine something to do. It is your mind after all._**"

Naruto nodded, and a deck of cards appeared in front of him. "Go fish?"

* * *

In Kazan's head, a much less happy scene was going on. Kazan was floating in a sea of blackness, barely able to see himself, let alone anything else. But, like Naruto, he was also hearing voices. "So, we've got another one."

Kazan looked around frantically. "Who's there?!"

"Wow. This one can hear us!" The voice sounded surprised. "Hold on a second, I'm checking his fingers now!"

There was a pause, and Kazan felt something sniffing his right hand. "Yeah! We've got multiple scars on the thumb, the index, and the middle! Definitely a multi-summoner! Get over here!"

A few seconds later, a deeper, more mature voice spoke to him. "Listen young human. Time is of the essence! You are in a near death state, and the slightest thing could send you to the grave. We can help you, but you must call us to your world! And for that, you need to wake up!"

Kazan thought for a second. If it was a chance of him living… "How would you be able to help me? And what would I do?"

The voice breathed a sigh of relief. "We are a clan of animal summons, but we have no summoner. Our last one was killed a thousand years ago and the contract burned. We are also the foremost mind healers, and the lords of the subconscious, so we're perfect to help you. As to what you would do, you would have to make a new contract, sign it, and then muster enough chakra to summon a mid-level one of us."

Kazan thought for another little bit. "I could do that. But as you've noticed, I'm already have multiple summons. Would you be able to coexist with the apes, the wolves and the falcons?"

The deep voice answered back without hesitation. "As we haven't been summoned in over a millennia, we would coexist with anyone you've signed a contract with and anyone you will sign one with in the future."

Kazan nodded. "Deal."

A second later, Kazan opened his eyes. It was very early morning, and light was coming in through the curtains. He sat back and enjoyed the beauty for a moment, but then realized with a start that he had limited time. Kazan looked around, and saw Kankurou sleeping in a chair in the corner and Sakura resting right next to his bed. He awoke them both with an ear splitting yell.

"GUYS!"

Both of them woke up, and were surprised that someone had yelled. But their surprise turned to jubilation as they realized that Kazan was awake. But he stopped them in their tracks. "Kankurou! In my bag should be a large scroll. Get it. Sakura, I need my Katana. NOW!" Both jumped, and ran for what he needed.

Quickly, he had a large scroll and his Katana in front of him. Gritting his teeth, Kazan began hand seals. After a long and arduous string, he hammered his hand down on the scroll and yelled "**Yoyaku Soushi no Jutsu! **(Contract Creation technique)"

With a quick, deft motion, he unrolled the scroll. Laying before him was an entirely blank summoning contract. 'Hope I'm up to this.' He thought as he unsheathed his katana.

Sakura had figured out what he was about to do. "Don't do that!" she practically screamed. "You're not up to it and you'll-" But her protests were cut off by a flash of steel and a spurting of blood as Kazan cut his right ring finger wide open.

Quickly, before he ran out of energy, Kazan signed his name on the blank contract, and left his handprint. Hoping he had enough left in him, Kazan began the familiar hand seals. "**Kuchyose no Jutsu! **(Summoning Technique)" he yelled as he slammed his bloody hand into the side of his bed, which as the closest hard thing he could reach.

The familiar poof of smoke appeared, but Kazan didn't see it. He had laid down more, having spent so much energy. But out of the poof of smoke appeared a most unlikely ally:

A large brown tabby cat, about the size of a lamp.

Without hesitation, the cat moved over to Kazan, ignoring the gaping of Kankurou and Sakura. "Well, he did it. Not only did he create the contract, he signed it, and then managed to summon the perfect one of us to help him." It said to itself. Quickly, the cat placed one of it's paws on the back of Kazan's neck, and green chakra poured out.

A few minutes passed with the cats feline face screwed up in concentration. Then, it breathed a sigh of relief. It removed it's paw and turned to Kankurou and Sakura, who were still gaping at the sight. "He'll be fine now. But next time he won't be so lucky. If he runs out of Chakra before being injured, he might-" The cat suddenly stopped as a look came over its face that said 'I've got an idea!' He turned to Kazan, who had just woken up.

"Kazan-sama, do you think you have enough power to summon representatives from your other three clans?" it asked.

Kazan thought for a moment, then nodded. He took his katana, and cut his other three fingers. Then, performing the seals once again, he summoned an Ape, a Wolf and a Falcon. The cat looked at them.

"Well guys, Kazan-sama here was about to die, and would have if he hadn't gotten into contact with me and my clan, he probably would have." The other three summonses looked at him with looks of horror on their faces. "That's why I propose the branding." Quickly, the others nodded, then gathered around Kazan.

"Wait," he said. "What are you going to do? I demand that you-" he was cut off as different shades of chakra gathered around the hands, paws and talons of his summons. They all screamed-

"**Hinshu Fuu! **(Brand Seal)" as they placed their limbs, glowing with chakra, on Kazan's right arm. He screamed in pain, and a small amount of smoke came off his skin. When they removed their limbs, four tattoos were left on Kazan's arm: A pair of feline eyes on his shoulder, a monkey hugging his bicep, a wolf howling at the moon on his elbow, and a falcon in flight on his forearm.

The cat waited until Kazan stopped moaning in pain, then said, "This might hurt now, but in the future, you'll thank us. Now, just spread some blood over one of these tattoos to Summon one of us. It doesn't need chakra, but if you channel some into the tattoo before you summon, it will get a bigger, better result. Now, we should probably get going." The ape, wolf and falcon poofed away, and the cat was about to do the same before it was halted by Sakura.

"Before you go away, can you tell me how you helped?"

The cat sighed. "Ok. We, the felines, are the most powerful mind-healers. That's why we stare off into space so much, we're contemplating our minds and figuring out how to help them. We also are lords of dreams and comatose states, so we can talk to people when they enter one of the two. We just usually choose not to. Well, we contacted Kazan, and he became the first one to sign a contract with us in a millennia."

Kankuro snickered. "So now he can call housecats?"

The cat smacked him on the head. "Yeah, but he can also summon the great cats like Tigers, Lions and Panthers. Or even call upon our boss, Nekouja. Now, if you'll excuse me…" The cat poofed away, and Sakura and Kankurou resumed their places next to Kazan, who had just fallen asleep.

About an hour later, Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara and Temari came into the room. "I just woke up ten minutes ago." Naruto said. He looked at the sleeping Kazan. "Is he any better?"

Sakura and Kankurou looked at him and nodded. "He woke up earlier," Sakura said. "But the effort of healing his most serious injury was enough to put him back to sleep."

Naruto looked around the room. He took in the bloody katana, the scroll pulsing with chakra, the tattoos on Kazan's arm, and the scar on his ring finger. "Who'd he sign a contract with?"

Sakura's face was painted with shock, before she looked around and realized how Naruto had drawn the conclusion. "Cats." She said. Naruto nodded, then took a place next to Kazan's bed. He waited for a few minutes, until Kazan stirred. Kazan looked over, and saw Naruto sitting there.

"Kazan, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt you. But since almost everyone I trust is in this room, I can tell you what happened." Naruto said, then went into a long explanation about Kyuubi. Gaara and Temari nodded, having already figured as much. Kankurou had a stunned look on his face that said 'Why didn't I figure that out?' The others just looked at him. "So," he concluded. "Please don't hate me."

Naruto looked around, and saw the faces of the others. Then Sasuke walked up and hit Naruto on the back of the head. "BAKA! HOW COULD YOU THINK WE'D HATE YOU?!" the others nodded in agreement.

Kazan murmured, "Naruto, come closer…" Naruto leaned forward, thinking his friend was weak and needed his energy. But that thought was disabused when Kazan hit Naruto in the exact place Sasuke had. "That's for thinking we'd hate you, and this-" He hit Naruto in the gut. "Is for not letting us finish our fight!" He lay back down, and fell back asleep.

Sakura looked over at him. "He's fine. He might have healed his brainstem injury, but he still lost a lot of blood. But he should be ready for the gennin test tomorrow."

Shock was on the faces of four people in the room (and shock was inside Gaara, but he never lets it show). Naruto spoke for all of them, "I FORGOT! WE GOTTA TRAIN!" He ran out of the room, followed by Kankurou, Temari, Sasuke, and finally Gaara (Who never runs, he just walks faster). Kazan looked at Sakura.

"Don't you have to practice too?" he asked.

She smiled. "Not going anywhere." He grinned back.

* * *

The next day, it was time for the Gennin exams. Kazan and Naruto had been released from the hospital, though the doctors were still raving about how Kazan had recovered so quickly. It seemed that the only side effect of him being hurt was a large collection of scars around his body, and he was moving slower then he was used to.

Iruka called them up one by one for their final examinations. Of the nine friends, Temari was the first up, and she passed easily. Then Kankurou, then Gaara, then Sasuke, then Naruto, then Sakura, then Kazan, then Ino and finally Hinata. All passed easily.

Iruka looked over the class with a smiling face. "Good job, all of you!" The room broke out into applause. "Tomorrow, we choose teams!"


End file.
